<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>shared pains by renard_rouge</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28525089">shared pains</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/renard_rouge/pseuds/renard_rouge'>renard_rouge</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Miraculous Ladybug</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Platonic Relationships</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 20:54:28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,528</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28525089</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/renard_rouge/pseuds/renard_rouge</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"how do you do it?" adrien asks, meekly.</p><p>"you make room for it," chloé answers. simple, yet heartbreaking.</p><p>or; adrien's coping from the fact that her mother disappeared, and chloé's there to share his pain.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir &amp; Chloé Bourgeois</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>shared pains</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>i loooooove platonic chlodrien, there's not a lot about it and that's a crime! so here, have some angst, uwu.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It was a month after his mother's disappearance.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Even so, Adrien felt as empty as he was since his father stated that her mother went missing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His father also seemed to share that sentiment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The blond knew his father wasn't as cold as he seems to show, knows that his father shows his care in his actions. He's someone who's not emotional and would let his actions do the talking as he thinks that actions show more than words.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So when he sees his father holing himself up with work, he knows that he's grieving as well, maybe more than him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Still, Adrien felt that he's the only one who's upset by the departure.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Of course, he won't admit that, knows that he doesn't need to add insult to injury. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He soon begrudgingly accepts that they both have ways to show their sadness.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Right now, as Adrien's on the balcony, he reminisces about her mother. Her mother always loved astrology, always stargazed with him on this very balcony, counting the stars and pointing out constellations that appear on their view whenever they both can't sleep at night.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He hasn't been sleeping that well nowadays.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Counting the stars above, he saw a shooting star and decided to wish upon it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I hope mom's alright," he whispers, only to himself, as if it's a delicate flower. He doesn't know where she is, but he hopes so much that she's doing alright, wherever she might be.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He doesn't know what to do if she wasn't.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He hears a knock on the door in his room. Blinking in surprise, Adrien went to it, unlocking it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The blond's eyes widened as he took into who was his surprise visitor at this hour.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Chloé!?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Shh! Keep it down, Adrien," the blonde quickly responded, swiftly shutting him up as she covers his mouth with both of her hands.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What are you doing here?" he said, though, toned down, because of her hands.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloé sighed as he got into his room, locking the door behind her, and went to his bed to sit down. The teen model, who followed her movements as he sits beside her, still lets the question hanging as he fixes a questioning look at her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The heiress sighed as he feels his gaze boring unto her. Turning to face him, she replied, "Don't ask me how I got here, but how are you?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Are you just gonna ignore the fact that you technically broke into here?" Adrien deadpanned, though it did was with a hint of amusement. Chloé does have her occasional doing of questionable actions.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Also, could've you checked up on me, in like, the morning? Where you can, I don't know, ask to be here and not have to sneak into the house?" he continued, crossing his arms as he continued to look at her deliberately. Even with the blonde's streak of mischievousness from time to time, he doesn't approve of some of it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And breaking-and-entering is one of them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The blonde just merely shrugged, as if she didn't break a crime, "I just can't sleep and decided that I want to see how my best friend's doing," she retorted, placing her head on her hand as hunches in herself, gazing over him, "Which, I'll say again, how are you doing?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I..." Adrien started, faltered, but just shook his head and chuckled out of delight; his only friend is something, "I'm fine, what makes you think I'm not?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You ignored my messages and my calls for a full month," Chloé replied sharply, now her time to deadpan her best friend.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Adrien winced at the tone and her admission, he didn't realize it, but she was right. He went into a social media cleanse and cut off all notifications from his phone, only using it for writing stories and the occasional use to photograph something. He still wasn't used to having a friend, not regarding Chloé since they knew each other when they were very young. Despite that, the topic was still foreign for him due to the isolation of being homeschooled. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So he must have a pass on this, right?</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Okay, no, that doesn't excuse it,</span>
  </em>
  <span> the blond scolded himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'm so sorry, Chlo! I didn't realize—I just—I forgot, I was didn't mean to ignore you, I just haven't had the time and—"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It's alright, you worrier! I'm here now and, you're okay, so that's enough," she says with a small smile as she straightens her posture to look at him directly now, placing her hands behind on the cushions of the bed as she leans back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The blond closed his mouth into a thin line from being cut off but furrowed his eyebrows as he realized the implications of his best friend.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"...Do you know?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The heiress grimaced, making Adrien slump his shoulders. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Well, that answered his question. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah, my father told me," Chloé then winced at that, "He got the news from your dad and...I just had to make sure you're alright."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The look that his best friend was giving him and the sincerity from her voice seems to be the last straw that breaks off his hopes that her mother will come back, and that alone makes an impact on his heart and the pain he's feeling with the sudden weight on his chest is so new yet so familiar. His shoulders shake from the beginning of sobs as he pulled her in for a bone-crushing hug, to which the blonde quickly reciprocated.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He never cries over spilled milk. The last time he did was because of his pleas of going to school were ignored. The loneliness was killing him, making him break down, but Chloé was there to hold him, like the present. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He doesn't want to know what he'd do if he and Chloé never met.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And they sat there, with Adrien breaking the silence with his sobs and wails filled with sorrow, clings unto Chloé like a lifeline and doesn't ever want to let go, afraid that the pieces of his heart will shatter more if Chloé breaks the hug. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But Chloé doesn't, and she'll never be, since she clings unto him as much as he does with her, giving away her silent tears. She's holding unto him to show that she's there and that she's here to at least stave away some of the pain he's feeling right now. The blonde's already familiar with it, and she regrets that she's only learning that her best friend is suffering alone for a month.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As the noises die down, with Adrien reduced to the occasional sniffles, they still stay there, clinging to one another as if it's the last day they see each other. The silence that brings them somewhat resembles what happens after the storm, the surroundings left broken but is left with a promise to rebuild it and with the calmness of it being over. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>After a moment, the silence went away with a simple question.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"How do you do it?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The blonde frowned, she knew what he was hinting at, but she, herself, doesn't know-how. So she ruminates and breaks the silence once again to give more time for herself to think of an answer, "What do you mean?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Adrien pulled away from his best friend, tearing his gaze from hers, uncomfortable as he let his question slip. He knows how Chloé avoids the topic altogether, avoids the mixed feelings she feels, avoids how unhealthy her relationship with her mother is. But he needs this, and he knows that Chloé needs this talk as well. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So, he gathers his courage to ask the question yet again, "I meant that, how do you deal with your mother's disappearance from time to time?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He turned to her, his eyes filled with determination and sympathy, and what he didn't expect to see was her best friend's strained smile as she looks at him with the same intensity as his.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You make room for it," she answered, her eyes brimming with tears, threatening to fall. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Adrien wants to be ignorant, wants to ask what she means, but sadly, he knows. He knows what he means, and he can't help but feel helpless and bitter about their situation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chloé laughs, broken and pitying, as she hugs herself tightly, letting tears fall once again. Because of that, Adrien can't help but feel the urge to be her rock as much as Chloé is to him, so he fiercely hugs her, petting her hair as he wants to give the comfort he had gotten from her earlier. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>And by then, they make a silent pact, a promise to one another to love each other more than their parents did. To never leave each other like what both of their mothers did. To not neglect each other like their fathers are doing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They don't know how, but they do it. They stayed strong for each other, not wanting the other to fall without the other not being there. The other's pain is as much as the other's pain as well, making it theirs. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was them against the world, and they won't have it any other way.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>